Ohioans would have to be notified within two days of unacceptable lead levels in their drinking water, under a proposal Gov. John Kasich plans to submit to state lawmakers.
The proposed changes come months after the village of Sebring failed to notify its residents within 30 days of high lead levels in the water there. The water was tested in September 2015, but residents weren’t notified until Jan. 21.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was slow to take control of the situation and pointed to federal water quality rules giving communities months to act before the state agency could step in.
The Ohio EPA is proposing several changes that would make Ohio law stronger than federal law:
- Reducing the time frame for when water systems must notify residents of high lead levels from 30 days to two days.
- Cut in half the time water systems have to educate consumers of the dangers of drinking the water from 60 days to 30 days.
- Use state grant and loan programs to update plumbing in Ohio schools, replace lead service lines and improve water treatment plants.
- Lower the “lead-free” definition of how much lead can be in plumbing from 8 percent to 0.25 percent — same as federal law.
“By pursuing improvements at the federal level while at the same time strengthening standards for state action, we can better help our communities safeguard their drinking water from lead,” the Kasich administration proposal said.
The reforms are being proposed as part of Kasich’s off-year budget bill.
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